Google Algorithm Updates Timeline

Google Algorithm Updates Timeline

Everything You Need to Know About All Google Algorithm Updates Till Date.

With over 60% of people now browsing the Internet 24/7. So, new strategies and plans need to be defined for almost every aspect of online marketing, including search performance.

If you’re taking your first steps into the world of search engine optimisation, you’ve probably heard about Google’s algorithm updates. These elusive creatures seem to have the power to make your websites disappear from searches and annoy SEO marketers – but what exactly are they?

Google’s search engine works by a set of algorithms – mathematical instructions which direct their servers to deliver you the best result. These algorithms determine not only which sites are relevant to the user’s search, but also rank these sites in order of their relevance.

Change is the only constant endless thing in SEO. It is estimated that Google updates its algorithm on a daily basis, so the underlying rules change roughly 365 times each year.

I am covering all about the major Google algorithm updates here because it’s only the major updates that will impact the most. Keep on tracking to be on the top of your game

2016 › Enlighten Yourself

2016

Penguin 4.0 — September 23, 2016

After almost two years of waiting, Google finally announced a major Penguin update. They suggested the new Penguin is now real-time and baked into the "core" algorithm. Initial impact assessments were small, but it was later revealed that the Penguin 4.0 rollout was unusually long and multi-phase (see September 27th and October 6th).

"Possum" — September 1, 2016

While unconfirmed by Google, MozCast recorded extreme temperatures of 108° and a drop in local pack prevalence, and the local SEO community noted a major shake-up in pack results. Data suggests this update (or a simultaneous update) also heavily impacted organic results.

Mobile-friendly 2 — May 12, 2016

Just more than a year after the original "mobile friendly" update, Google rolled out another ranking signal boost to benefit mobile-friendly sites on mobile search. Since the majority of sites we track are already mobile-friendly, it's likely the impact of the latest update was small.

AdWords Shake-up — February 23, 2016

Google made major changes to AdWords, removing right-column ads entirely and rolling out 4-ad top blocks on many commercial searches. While this was a paid search update, it had significant implications for CTR for both paid and organic results, especially on competitive keywords.

Core Algorithm Update — January 8, 2016

Multiple tracking tools (including MozCast) reported historically-large rankings movement, which Google later confirmed as a "core algo update". Google officially said that this was not a Penguin update, but details remain sketchy.

RankBrain* — October 26, 2015

Google made a major announcement, enlightening that machine learning had been a part of the algorithm for months, contributing to the 3rd most influential ranking factor. *Note: This is an announcement date - we believe the actual launch was closer to spring 2015.

Panda 4.2 — July 17, 2015

Google announced what was most likely a Panda data refresh, saying that it could take months to fully roll out. The immediate impact was unclear, and there were no clear signs of a major algorithm update.

Mobile Update AKA "Mobilegeddon" — April 22, 2015

Google made an official update announcement on their Google Webmaster Blog. This change affected mobile searches in all languages worldwide and also had a significant impact on mobile search results.

In a rare move, Google pre-announced an algorithm update, telling us that mobile rankings would differ for mobile-friendly sites starting on April 21st. The impact of this update was, in the short-term, much smaller than expected, and our data showed that algorithm flux peaked on April 22nd.

Penguin 3.0 — October 17, 2014

More than a year after the previous Penguin update (2.1), Google launched a Penguin refresh. This update appeared to be smaller than expected (<1% of US/English queries affected) and was probably data-only (not a new Penguin algorithm). The timing of the update was unclear, especially internationally, and Google claimed it was spread out over "weeks".

Pigeon — July 24, 2014

Google wobbled the local SEO sphere with an update that histrionically transformed some local results and changed how they handle and understand location signs. Google claimed that Pigeon made closer ties between the local algorithm and core algorithm(s).

Hummingbird — August 20, 2013

Google advocated that the "Hummingbird" update rolled out about a month earlier. Hummingbird has been compared to Caffeine, and seems to be a core algorithm update that possibly will influence changes to semantic search and the Knowledge Graph for several months.

Penguin — April 24, 2012

After the long wait of rumor about an "Over-optimization penalty", Google ultimately rolled out the "Webspam Update", which was shortly after dubbed "Penguin." Penguin attuned a number of spam factors, including keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of English queries worldwide.

Google+ — June 28, 2011

After a series of serious social media failures, Google propelled a serious attack on Facebook with Google+. Google+ revolved around circles for sharing content and was strongly incorporated into products like Gmail. Early adopters were quick to jump on board, and within 2-3 weeks Google+ reached 10M users.

Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011

The most important algorithm updates hit sites hard, disturbing up to 12% of search results (a figure that came openly from Google). Panda seemed to bang down on thin content, content farms, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and a number of other quality concerns.

Social Signals — December 2010

Google and Bing confirmed that they use social signals in determining ranking, including data from Twitter and Facebook. Matt Cutts confirmed that this was a relatively new development for Google, although many SEOs had long suspected it would happen.

Caffeine (Rollout) — June 2010

After months of testing, Google finished rolling out the Caffeine infrastructure. Caffeine not only boosted Google's raw speed, but integrated crawling and indexation much more tightly, resulting in (according to Google) a 50% fresher index.

Google Places — April 2010

Although "Places" pages were rolled out in September of 2009, they were originally only a part of Google Maps. The official launch of Google Places re-branded the Local Business Center, integrated Places pages more closely with local search results, and added a number of features, including new local advertising options.

Google Suggest — August 2008

In a major change to their logo-and-a-box home-page Google introduced Suggest, displaying suggested searches in a dropdown below the search box as visitors typed their queries. Suggest would later go on to power Google Instant.

Big Daddy — December 2005

Technically, Big Daddy was an infrastructure update (like the more recent "Caffeine"), and it rolled out over a few months, wrapping up in March of 2006. Big Daddy changed the way Google handled URL canonicalization, redirects (301/302) and other technical issues.

No follow — January 2005

To combat spam and control outbound link quality, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft collectively introduce the "nofollow" attribute. Nofollow helps clean up unvouched for links, including spammy blog comments. While not a traditional algorithm update, this change gradually has a significant impact on the link graph.

Florida — November 2003

This was the update that put updates (and probably the SEO industry) on the map. Many sites lost ranking, and business owners were furious. Florida sounded the death knell for low-value late 90s SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing, and made the game a whole lot more interesting.

1st Documented Update — September 2002

Before "Boston" (the first named update), there was a major shuffle in the Fall of 2002. The details are unclear, but this appeared to be more than the monthly Google Dance and PageRank update. As one webmaster said of Google: "they move the toilet mid stream".

RankBrain* — October 26, 2015

Google made a major announcement, enlightening that machine learning had been a part of the algorithm for months, contributing to the 3rd most influential ranking factor. *Note: This is an announcement date - we believe the actual launch was closer to spring 2015.

Panda 4.2 — July 17, 2015

Google announced what was most likely a Panda data refresh, saying that it could take months to fully roll out. The immediate impact was unclear, and there were no clear signs of a major algorithm update.

Mobile Update AKA "Mobilegeddon" — April 22, 2015

Google made an official update announcement on their Google Webmaster Blog. This change affected mobile searches in all languages worldwide and also had a significant impact on mobile search results.

In a rare move, Google pre-announced an algorithm update, telling us that mobile rankings would differ for mobile-friendly sites starting on April 21st. The impact of this update was, in the short-term, much smaller than expected, and our data showed that algorithm flux peaked on April 22nd.

Penguin 3.0 — October 17, 2014

More than a year after the previous Penguin update (2.1), Google launched a Penguin refresh. This update appeared to be smaller than expected (<1% of US/English queries affected) and was probably data-only (not a new Penguin algorithm). The timing of the update was unclear, especially internationally, and Google claimed it was spread out over "weeks".

Pigeon — July 24, 2014

Google wobbled the local SEO sphere with an update that histrionically transformed some local results and changed how they handle and understand location signs. Google claimed that Pigeon made closer ties between the local algorithm and core algorithm(s).

Hummingbird — August 20, 2013

Google advocated that the "Hummingbird" update rolled out about a month earlier. Hummingbird has been compared to Caffeine, and seems to be a core algorithm update that possibly will influence changes to semantic search and the Knowledge Graph for several months.

Penguin — April 24, 2012

After the long wait of rumor about an "Over-optimization penalty", Google ultimately rolled out the "Webspam Update", which was shortly after dubbed "Penguin." Penguin attuned a number of spam factors, including keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of English queries worldwide.

Google+ — June 28, 2011

After a series of serious social media failures, Google propelled a serious attack on Facebook with Google+. Google+ revolved around circles for sharing content and was strongly incorporated into products like Gmail. Early adopters were quick to jump on board, and within 2-3 weeks Google+ reached 10M users.

Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011

The most important algorithm updates hit sites hard, disturbing up to 12% of search results (a figure that came openly from Google). Panda seemed to bang down on thin content, content farms, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and a number of other quality concerns.

Social Signals — December 2010

Google and Bing confirmed that they use social signals in determining ranking, including data from Twitter and Facebook. Matt Cutts confirmed that this was a relatively new development for Google, although many SEOs had long suspected it would happen.

Caffeine (Rollout) — June 2010

After months of testing, Google finished rolling out the Caffeine infrastructure. Caffeine not only boosted Google's raw speed, but integrated crawling and indexation much more tightly, resulting in (according to Google) a 50% fresher index.

Google Places — April 2010

Although "Places" pages were rolled out in September of 2009, they were originally only a part of Google Maps. The official launch of Google Places re-branded the Local Business Center, integrated Places pages more closely with local search results, and added a number of features, including new local advertising options.

Google Suggest — August 2008

In a major change to their logo-and-a-box home-page Google introduced Suggest, displaying suggested searches in a dropdown below the search box as visitors typed their queries. Suggest would later go on to power Google Instant.

Big Daddy — December 2005

Technically, Big Daddy was an infrastructure update (like the more recent "Caffeine"), and it rolled out over a few months, wrapping up in March of 2006. Big Daddy changed the way Google handled URL canonicalization, redirects (301/302) and other technical issues.

No follow — January 2005

To combat spam and control outbound link quality, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft collectively introduce the "nofollow" attribute. Nofollow helps clean up unvouched for links, including spammy blog comments. While not a traditional algorithm update, this change gradually has a significant impact on the link graph.

Florida — November 2003

This was the update that put updates (and probably the SEO industry) on the map. Many sites lost ranking, and business owners were furious. Florida sounded the death knell for low-value late 90s SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing, and made the game a whole lot more interesting.

1st Documented Update — September 2002

Before "Boston" (the first named update), there was a major shuffle in the Fall of 2002. The details are unclear, but this appeared to be more than the monthly Google Dance and PageRank update. As one webmaster said of Google: "they move the toilet mid stream".